Fentanyl anti-overdose drug naloxone free at Quebec pharmacies

VAL-D’OR — The Quebec government will make available free of charge an opioid overdose counter-effect drug, naloxone, as it struggles to avert the same kind of drug crisis rocking other provinces.

For the first time, not only will the drug be available to first responders such as ambulance drivers, but police and firefighters will start carrying it to be ready to act readily to save lives.

And citizens who believe someone they know may be in danger of overdosing will be able to obtain the drug through their local pharmacist.

The announcement was made Wednesday by Quebec Health Minister Gaétan Barrette and Public Health Minister Lucie Charlebois following a meeting of the Quebec cabinet in Val-D’Or. The decision comes a day after Montreal’s public health department called on the government to come up with an action plan to fight the growing problem.

Quebec’s coroner’s office has said there have been 24 confirmed drug overdoses and two deaths possibly connected to overdoses since Aug. 1 in Montreal.

But Barrette and Charlebois said this decision follows other actions the government has already taken, including the creation of safe injection sites. A provincial action plan including comprehensive prevention measures will follow before the end of the year.

“What we’re announcing today is about prevention,” Barrette told reporters. “Making it available free is the answer for today, but the real answer to this growing situation is about prevention. We are not in a crisis situation today. Each and every overdose is a sad situation that we wish we could prevent. It’s impossible to prevent everything, but there are measures to be taken and will be taken in order to limit this as much as possible."

“We have done a lot since the beginning,” Charlebois added. “We were active before people talked about it because we had the injection sites.”